America's Native Horses
by Annamaria Tadlock

Section 3 - Return Of The Horse

“Next to God, we owe our victory to the horses,” proclaimed Hernando Cortez in 1519 when he landed in the New World, bringing with him the first 16 horses to set hoof in North America after the mass extinction. Later Spanish explorers brought more horses with them-- small, hardy Spanish horses that would survive the long trip across the sea with little food and water, and provide fast and surefooted mounts for soldiers. The horses were confined in small, dark stalls and often put into slings to allow them to take weight off their feet because the rolling of the seas could tire a horse's legs out. The "horse latitudes", a section in the Atlantic ocean that experiences periods of weak and dead wind, gets its name from the Spanish horses. When the ships would stick, the water and food supplies would run low and dead or starving horses were thrown overboard.

DeSoto brought 237 horses in 1593, and Mendoza 1,500 in 1547. Most ships headed to the New World had horses aboard. Spanish knew how valuable the horse was, and they forbade Indians to ride them without permission of their masters-- and most Indians did not know how to use the horse; When stray horses were found, they were often killed for their meat.

In the 1600’s horses were found in colonies across the US, and after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Indians began to domesticate and use the horse.

The Utes, Taos, and Comanche in the south began to use horses, and horse culture spread northward (see Appendix B), revolutionizing the way native peoples lived, moved, hunted, fought, and communicated.

As the west was colonized and fenced, wild horses were often used as a source of ranch horses. Farmers would sometimes release their own mares or stallions with wild herds to improve the ‘quality’ or refine the herds. However, wild stallions often tore their domestic cousins to pieces. “I once turned a big stud out with a bunch of mares,” Harry Webb told Amaral in Mustang, “A few days later a sorry looking critter I didn’’t recognize limped down the road… A mustang stud had reduced him to chicken feed.” (62)

During both the Civil War and World War I, thousands of wild horses were rounded up and used as cavalry mounts. They were sure-footed, hardy, and easy to acquire. The numbers and availability of wild horses made them an asset to Americans. America’s Last Wild Horses has a quote that Matt Fielding, in 1893, wrote when he encountered a mustang stallion:

“ ’Twas a beautiful animal… a sorrel with a jet black mane and tail. We could see the muscles quiver in his glossy limbs as he moved; and when, half playfully and half in fright he tossed his flowing mane in the air… our admiration knew no bounds and we… hopelessly, vexatiously longed to possess him. A domestic horse will ever lack that magic and indescribable charm that beams like a halo around the simple name of freedom… We might have shot him from where we stood, but had we been starving, we would scarcely have done it. He was free, and we loved him for the very possession of that liberty we longed to take from him… but we could not kill him.”

< 2:The Extinction of the Horse             4: Mustang Hunters >